DA’s Baptie joins KZN Legislature
Baptie who was sworn in by the Speaker of the KZN Legislature, Nontembeko Boyce.
Another by-election is on the cards in Umdoni Municipality. This comes after Ward 10 councillor, Edwin Baptie was recently sworn in as a new member of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Legislature.
The former Democratic Alliance Ugu North Caucus leader’s appointment as a member of the Legislature came after the DA Ugu South Caucus leader, Rishigen Viranna moved to Sweden in August.
Baptie who was sworn in by the Speaker of the KZN Legislature, Nontembeko Boyce, told Fever that he has been given a portfolio under health.
He described the portfolio as a big one which has a number of challenges.
“What I have to do here, specifically, is to get to know all the facilities and installations that exist within the Ugu district and see what I can do to assist or drive better resourcing of the health installations in Ugu. There is obviously a big learning curve to go on, to familiarise ourselves with the operational side of the Department of Health and its programmes, in order to advance the provision of primary healthcare and hospital services in the Ugu district,” said Baptie.
According to the DA in KZN, the former Umdoni Ward 10 councillor joins the DA KZN Legislature Caucus after having secured strong growth for the DA in Ugu North during his time as Caucus leader since 2007.
The party said in a statement that this was as a result of a proactive and no-nonsense approach to ongoing challenges, in particular unprecedented water issues experienced by local residents during the past few years.
“Baptie has also served as Ugu North Constituency chairperson since 2016. The DA has no doubt that Edwin Baptie will make a significant contribution to our Caucus. His broad and varied experience at municipal level, with its many complexities, will be invaluable. Baptie’s particular role within the Caucus will be announced shortly. The DA KZN Legislature Caucus looks forward to working with him as we strive to improve the lives of our province’s people,” said the party.
Meanwhile, Baptie said he is hopeful that the DA will retain Ward 10 when the time for a by-election comes. He said they will put up a candidate and campaign, adding that hopefully they will win back the ward.
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